Monday At Lake Brantley Anti-drug Program To Start

September 27, 1986|By Kirsten Gallagher of The Sentinel Staff (Reporter Kit Lively contributed to this story.)

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS — Lake Brantley High School will launch an anti-drug campaign Monday that will include a questionnaire aimed at identifying drug abusers.

But the program, which also will include speakers on drugs and a referral system for drug abusers, will not be as stringent as the Lake Mary High School program, officials said Friday.

''We're aiming at trying to get to all kids who are experimenting or are at the early stages of becoming dependent,'' Principal Darvin Boothe said. ''It's not going to be as sensational as Lake Mary's, but we hope it will help.''

Boothe, parents, students, teachers, coaches and drug counselors developed the program during the past month in reaction to Lake Mary's efforts, which includes an anti-drug pledge, drug treatment referral and family counseling.

Lake Mary and Lake Brantley also will join together Monday to film a public service clip on students saying no to drugs, said Bob Peterson, Lake Brantley's athletic director.

The questionnaire, to be issued next semester, is unique to Lake Brantley's program. It will list physical and behavioral changes related to drug abuse and will be passed out to teachers, coaches and parents when a student is thought to be using drugs. The school would share the results with parents and, if necessary, recommend treatment, Peterson said.

Lake Mary's program includes asking students to sign a contract to stay clear of drugs on and off campus and to agree to drug evaluations and treatment.

More than 1,200 Lake Mary athletes, club members and their parents met last Wednesday and Thursday to launch the ''Lake Mary Says No'' program. Contracts, which students were to return Friday, were distributed at the meeting.

Not signing the contract does not mean automatic exclusion from activities. However, if a student is found to be taking drugs, the student still will be subject to a school-board approved treatment referral system.

Lake Brantley's program does not include a contract and will not ask counseling centers and parents to release treatment and testing results.

In 1980 news reports claimed 30 percent of Lake Brantley students took drugs and alcohol.

Administrators refuted the reports, but since then have worked to toughen their anti-drug campaigns.

Seminole high school administrators could not pinpoint the number of students taking drugs in the county. But a 1981 study polling 10 percent of students in grade six through 12 showed 6.5 percent had tried cocaine and 28.7 percent had sampled marijuana.

Principals and coaches last year tried to come up with a countywide drug policy, but gave up after they could not agree on the terms.

No other Seminole high schools have come up with anti-drug plans as detailed as Lake Mary's or Lake Brantley's. But drug programs are being stressed.

Athletes at Lake Howell High School this year signed forms agreeing to be dismissed from teams if they are caught using drugs and alcohol, Assistant Principal Carol Sutton said. The school also has held programs to educate teachers and parents on drugs, she said.

Beginning Oct. 6 Lyman High School students and parents will be asked to attend drug education seminars, which in previous years were aimed at students, said Bill Scott, head football coach.

Another police officer is on duty at Seminole High School's campus because of the crack cocaine problem, Principal Wayne Epps said.

In Orange County, Jim Vickers, program consultant for health services, said none of the district's schools has asked students to sign contracts that carry penalties if they use drugs.